Creating Confidence in Clean Water Permitting Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. DUARTE. Mr. Chair, I rise today to support H.R. 7023, the Creating Confidence in Clean Water Permitting Act.

This bill provides relief to farmers, small businesses, and energy producers across the Central Valley and throughout the United States by cutting red tape, streamlining reviews, and providing greater regulatory certainty under the Clean Water Act.

I am proud that H.R. 7023 includes my initiative taking much-needed steps to fix inconsistencies in the permitting process under the Clean Water Act. In particular, this bill ensures that EPA permit writers do their jobs in a clear and reliable manner, including clear, objective, concrete limits on specific pollutants or water body conditions that permittees can rely on.

Currently, the EPA's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit writers often include language in permits that provide loopholes for antidevelopment groups to sue and block permits needed for critical energy and other infrastructure improvements. My provision closes those loopholes and limits opportunities for unwarranted lawsuits.

This bill doesn't roll back the Clean Water Act. It codifies decades- old EPA policy to shield permit holders from activist lawsuits as long as they acted in good faith and according to the specific terms of their permit.

This type of regulatory certainty and legal protection for permit holders is necessary for improving our Nation's infrastructure, especially California's Central Valley water infrastructure.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, a commonsense reform that will strengthen the permitting process for permit seekers and holders, as well as provide greater clarity for permitting agencies.

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